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"The first sip of tea is the always the best? you cringe as it burns the back of your throat, knowing you just had the hottest carpe-diem portion." - Terri Guillemets

Well, I am British after all so when the word 'beverage' is mentioned I am culturally brainwashed into thinking of only one thing - Tea! :)

On memory, the best cup of tea I ever had was in Sri Lanka. We were at a tea factory, high in the lush tea plantations of Nuwara Eliya, 2000m above sea level. After having been shown around the various processes used to get from tea leaf to tea - steaming, panning, rolling, forming, drying, etc. we were each given a fresh pot of tea to relax and taste.

I don't know if it was the long tour or the height we were at but that cup of tea was the most refreshing drink I have ever had. Most surprising for me at the time was that it was black, without sugar. No bitter, stale aftertaste here - just sublime, rich bodied, fragrant tea. In contrast, the most foul tea I ever had, and this is just my personal opinion/taste, was Kashmiri tea. Amongst other things, it contains salt.

For the photo, I pulled out some Twinings Infusions tea bag which we had lying around at the back of the cupboard, the one used here is: 'Strawberry & Mango'. As you can see, it's an intense red colour and against the white tea cup is even more vivid.

I'm off to boil the kettle, thanks for looking/comments/shares! :)

Our Daily Challenge (ODC): BEVERAGE

112 Pictures in 2012: #25 Crockery, China or Pottery